1 Trip Report; Mt. Rainier Via Kautz Glacier. on July 25 , 2010, Mick
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Trip report; Mt. Rainier via Kautz Glacier. On July 25th, 2010, Mick Pearson, Nasa Koski and I began a three-day trip up Mt. Rainier, which included an ascent up the Nisqually, Wilson and Kautz Glaciers, and then a descent via the traditional, Disappointment Cleaver (DC) Route. During my eleven year mountaineering “career”, I never had the urge to climb Mt. Rainier, mostly because of trip reports that spoke of endless ropes of climbers ascending (read: clogging) the traditional route. I had experienced such crowds on Mt. Shasta in California and on the Nadelhorn in Switzerland and simply had no desire to be a part of another endless train of climbers up a mountain. My interests changed during a flight to the Northwest in 2008. I was visiting Seattle on my way to Mt. Baker when I caught a glimpse of Mt. Rainier from about 15,000 feet from the jet’s window. Although I was well aware of the often crowded situation on Rainier, the view of the mountain was fascinating and initiated thoughts of potentially ascending a less popular route, one with far fewer climbers and more challenge than the traditional route. In spring of 2010, I contacted Mick Pearson of Kaf Adventures, to inquire about the possibility of climbing Mt. Rainier together. Mick is an accomplished mountain/rock guide with experiences on many of the world’s famous mountain ranges. More importantly, he also was willing to establish a climbing partnership that included as much education and willingness to teach as it did desire to touch the top. This was important to me, as I consider myself a student of mountaineering, not a client desiring a ride to the top. After several email exchanges and phone calls, Mick and I had determined that my goals could be best reached by attempting to summit via the Kautz Glacier route. This route featured intermediate difficulty and would allow me an opportunity to enhance my mountaineering skills, as it would provide heavily crevassed glaciers, a steep and technical ice wall, and a challenging elevation gain to fairly thin air. The choice of route combined with a Sunday through Tuesday itinerary, almost insured that we would be fairly isolated on the mountain. Camp 2 (13,300 ft) Summit (14,410 ft) Camp 1 (9400 ft) Overview of our route up Mt. Rainier on my attempt at a composite photo. The Kautz Ice Chute, the crux of the climb, is located between Camps 1 and 2. 1 Close view of the Kautz Glacier and our route in red. The Ice Chute is the ramp on the middle-left of the photo. The red line ends at Camp 2 and the band of rock indicating the crater rim can be seen on the upper right. The action began on Sunday, July 25th at 6:30 in the morning when Mick picked me up at my hotel near the SeaTac Airport. The two-hour drive to Mt. Rainier National Park was consumed with talk of mountaineering along with the ever-looming presence of our objective, which grew larger and larger in the distance as we approached. I don’t know if all mountaineers experience this, but I often get a nervous feeling as the mountain finally becomes visible and larger…and in the case of Mt Rainier, larger and larger and larger still. The plans hatched months ago became second-guessed as the true scope of our objective became apparent. Simply put, Mt. Rainier is huge. I have summited mountains of similar elevation, but what sets Rainier apart from most other mountains of this elevation is the consistently gnarly glaciation present on just about every route. Furthermore, we would be combining this with 9000 feet of elevation gain and thin air as we approach the summit at 14,410 feet. Our drive to the mountain made a stop at the Nisqually Lodge, which is located just outside of the national park and is used as a meeting point for groups heading to Mt. Rainier. Here, Mick checked up on another group of his that was climbing the mountain via the traditional route. We also met up with Nasa Koski, one of Mick’s assistant guides, who accompanied us on the climb. The addition of a third person to our party was quite advantageous, as she represented not only another person with whom we could commiserate when the going became tough, but also another person with whom we could split the weight of the group gear. In the parking lot of the lodge, we distributed group gear and selected only the most essential personal gear in an effort to 2 lighten our packs as much as possible. This was made easier by the fact that weather on the mountain was forecasted to be quite stable and warm (by Mt. Rainier standards) over the next few days. After a few minutes of packing, unpacking and re-packing, we were ready to make the short drive to the trailhead at Paradise Park (5400 ft.). It should be noted that the road to Mt. Rainier National Park passes many roadside restaurants. It did not go unnoticed that the next time I saw these restaurants, I would be so ready for a greasy cheeseburger and chocolate shake…and hopefully satisfied by a successful summit attempt. A mess of gear to sort through at the Nisqually Lodge. That’s Nasa looking in the van and Mick on the right. The van is named Victoria. One inside the park, we made our way to Paradise Park where we acquired our climbing permits and said goodbye to comfortable footwear, at least for the next three days. Paradise Park is a well-appointed visitor’s area that represents the starting point for several routes up the mountain and from here, one is over nine statute miles and 9000 vertical feet from the summit. The weather was perfect (70s and sunny) and the shear massiveness of the mountain was in full view, complete with immense glaciers, rock buttresses, icefalls, crevasses and all of the features that make mountaineering as dangerous as it is exciting. Now, this was certainly not the time for me to question my conditioning for this trip, but the top was a long way up…and the route looked intimidating. I had to draw on my previous experiences to get myself into the right frame of mind, convincing myself that I was up to the task. I had been in equally, if not more challenging situations before; mountains just as tall, weather far uglier and conditioning not nearly as tuned, and in almost every case I was successful. So, it was time to put all of the training and experience to work. After two years of obsessing about this mountain, it was time to climb Mt. Rainier. 3 We began our ascent on the Moraine Trail, which is actually paved for a short distance before giving way to a worn dirt and rock path typical of most alpine approaches. The grade was hardly noticeable at this point, and in fact, the going was quite easy. This would change as I encountered snow and ice for the first since March, as we began a descent onto the Nisqually Glacier at about 6000 feet. Von, Nasa and Mick on the Moraine Trail below Mt. Rainier…this is going to be a lot of work! The Nisqually Glacier is one of the prominent glaciers on the south side of the mountain and actually runs from the summit to its terminus at around 5200 feet. We climbed northwestward across the Nisqually Glacier, uneventfully, until about 8000 feet where we stopped to eat lunch and gather a little strength for a push for our first camp, which was located about 1400 feet above the adjacent Wilson Glacier. 4 Mick leading the way as we crossed the Nisqually Glacier below the icefall, nearing 8000 ft. After a 30 minute lunch break, we moved westward onto the Wilson Glacier, which began as a moderate snow slope for the first 300 feet of vertical gain, after which, the slope steepened considerably for the final 1100 feet of gain. This increase in angle gave us an early taste of the terrain that was to come over the next two days, as the remaining slopes to the summit would be relatively steep and challenging. Nasa taking a break on the Wilson Glacier below Camp 1. Mt. Adams is the prominent peak in the background with a feint Mt. Hood to the right. 5 We arrived at Camp 1 at about 5:00 PM at an elevation of approximately 9400 feet, just below what’s known as the Turtle Snowfield. If you squint your eyes and tilt your head just right, this snowfield looks like a turtle in photos of the mountain, hence the name. Although we had intended to get a little higher on our first day, our measured pace was adequate to get us to a good starting point for Day 2, and still allowed us to enjoy the climb. OK, honestly I was really tired and concerned when I looked up at the remaining parts of the route. I knew after reaching Camp 1 that we had a considerably hairy Day 2 ahead of us, but if we could make it through Day 2, barring a catastrophe, the summit would be attainable. I wanted to climb strong and enjoy it. A friend of mine says that pain is weakness leaving your body…let’s hope so, because if that’s true, then I would be very strong on Day 2.